Midwest Archeological Center personnel completed preconstruction
archeological inventory and evaluation along four segments (38.4 km) of the
Loop Road in the North Unit of Badlands National Park, South Dakota, in
April and May 1993. This work concluded the archeological inventory of the
five Loop Road segments, the first having been examined in 1991 (Jones
1993c).

Sixteen archeological sites were examined during the 1993 Badlands
fieldwork. Three of the 16 represented previously recorded sites which lay
within the road corridor; the remaining 13 sites were previously
unrecorded, and were formally identified and evaluated in 1993. One
additional known site, 39PN4, was thought to lie within the road corridor,
but ultimately could not be reidentified.

All 16 sites investigated along the Loop Road corridor in 1993 contained
probable prehistoric Native American components, while one site, 39PN1161,
also contained eroded historic Euroamerican materials. Dated features and
diagnostic artifacts recovered from the Native American sites ranged in age
from as early as about 8000 B.C. until roughly A.D. 1000. Together, these
materials and dates document repeated short-term Native American occupation
and use of the upland plains atop the Badlands Wall.

All 16 sites examined in 1993 lay within roughly 150 m of the present route
of the Loop Road. but it is unclear at this point whether or not
ground-disturbing activities will affect any of these resources. One of
the 16 sites, 39JK4, has been declared eligible for the National Register
of Historic Places; eight of the remaining 15 prehistoric sites/components
examined in 1993 are believed to warrant National Register nomination,
while seven are estimated to be not eligible. The historic component
identified at 39PN1161 is likewise believed to be not eligible.

Finally, a brief episode of archeological monitoring was conducted at 39JK4
as part of an adjacent parking lot removal project. Subsurface cultural
remains still exist in the main part of the site, but were not found to
extend into the construction zone.

Due to the sensitive nature
of this subject this report is
available to professional
archeologists only. If you
order this manuscript we may
contact you for verification of
your profession.